New policy to promote solar manufacturing, says Goyal

A policy to boost manufacturing in solar energy sector is on the anvil, Union Minister for Power, Coal, New and RenewableEnergy, Piyush Goyal said on Monday.

The policy will focus on boosting end-to-end manufacturing of solar panels, said Mr Goyal while speaking at a session on renewable energy. “I see a potential for manufacturing capacity of 10 giga watts for the 3-4 years. Domestic manufacturing in India would be cheaper than anywhere in the world,” Piyush Goyal said.

The government has raised India’s target for solar power generation to 100,000 MW from 20,000 MW by 2022.

To a query on the high power tariff hurting manufacturing prospects, Mr Goyal said the policy will address that issue as well. He said States such as Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh have the potential for solar panel manufacturing, as they have surplus power. “Chief Ministers of these states have assured me they will look to promote solar manufacturing.”

The Ministry is planning a Cabinet note for approval of 25 more solar parks. “The success of NTPC auctions at solar parks, where prices hit a record low, gave us confidence for promoting such parks,” Mr Goyal said. He said the ministry is looking at long-term funding and is working with the World Bank. He said efforts are on to make pension and insurance funds invest in the sector. Mr Goyal said his next focus areas would be hydro and bio-fuels.

The policy will focus on boosting end-to-end manufacturing of solar panels